Pain is the loom upon which the cloth of the universe is woven. There is no life without pain, as there is no death without it. Embrace your pain. Let it guide your mind and thoughts. 
- — DeSaad
New Gods (Volume 4) #14 is an issue of the series New Gods (Volume 4) with a cover date of January, 1997.
Synopsis for "The Gathering Storm"
The Forever People arrive on Earth without any memories of where they were before or how they got there. They meet Lightray, who had a similar experience after his last encounter with Takion. Beautiful Dreamer uses her powers to project Lightray's last memories, and they see the fight against S'ivaa in New Genesis. Suddenly, Takion shows up and meets the group, returning the Super-Cycle to the Forever People. The group hops on into the Cycle and tries to trace the missing Vykin, but they can't lock on to their location. Lightray asks Takion if he knows what's happening, and Takion admits that he's just as puzzled as them, but he senses Highfather betrayed them.
Meanwhile, in Metropolis, Desaad holds Claudia Shane and her group hostage, intent on investigating New Genesis and Apokolips' disappearance and the connection between Orion and the humans. Suddenly, the unconscious Orion wakes up and fights the Parademons to save his friends. However, Orion is weak, and Desaad takes advantage of his weakness to set Orion on fire. Quickly, Orion grabs Desaad, and both of them disintegrate. The Parademons attack the group, but Takion, Lightray, and the Forever People, following Orion's energy pattern, arrive in time to save them.
In New York, Mister Miracle explains to his group that he doesn't believe New Genesis was destroyed. Otherwise, his Mother Box would have warned him with more urgency.
Elsewhere, Vykin monitors his friends for his master, Highfather, who takes responsibility for stripping Metron of his memories and leaving him with garbled information incriminating him, as well as leaving the Forever People stranded on Earth's desert without memories. Vykin gets tired of Highfather's secrecy, who refuses to tell him why he's doing all this, so he grabs his Mother Box and attempts to Boom Tube to the Super Cycle. However, his Boom Tube warps in another direction and ends up in a different place, where Darkseid offers him to join his side.
Appearing in "The Gathering Storm"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Darkseid
- DeSaad
- Parademons
- S'ivaa (Flashback only)
Other Characters:
- Claudia Shane
- Dave Lincoln
- Harvey Lockman
- Superman (Flashback only)
- Victor Lanza
Locations:
Items:
- Mother Box
- Torture Rod
Vehicles:
Notes
- This issue retcons certain aspects of the miniseries Forever People (Volume 2): in the miniseries, the Forever People return to Earth with the help of Maya, the embodiment of their Mother Box's spirit, after being stranded on Adon. This issue omits Maya's involvement and existence and explains it was instead Highfather who took the group out of Adon and left them stranded on Earth's desert. This would also imply that all the Forever People's appearances after Forever People #11 (1972) and before New Gods Vol 4 #14 (1997) are no longer canon.
Trivia
- Highfather claims Vykin is the second smartest God of New Genesis, surpassed only by Metron.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Jack Kirby's Fourth World Recommended Reading:
- Forever People (Volume 1)
- Forever People (Volume 2)
- Mister Miracle (Volume 1)
- Mister Miracle (Volume 2)
- Mister Miracle (Volume 3)
- Mister Miracle (Volume 4)
- Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle (Volume 1)
- New Gods (Volume 1)
- New Gods (Volume 2)
- New Gods (Volume 3)
- New Gods (Volume 4)
- Orion (Volume 1)
- Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen (Volume 1): issues #133-#148
- Jack Kirby's Fourth World (Volume 1)
- Death of the New Gods (Volume 1)
- DC Graphic Novel #4
- Genesis (Volume 1)